Sunday, March 31, 2013

It's Sunday and the calm before the season storm is upon us. It also the last day in the Matt Kemp appreciation week. I have a few more autographs that are on bats and such but I wanted to mainly concentrate on balls and the one card of him that I have at this time. We close the week out with my last AOTD ( autograph of the day ) for a few days as I am taking tomorrow off to go watch our Boys in Blue at the newly renovated Dodger Stadium and will recap it the day after. Other than my 3rd out ball thrown to me while in Washington D.C. last year this is my favorite Matt Kemp signed baseball.

I have many signed balls by Matt Kemp so I am usually not on the look out for any others as I will just acquire them by myself but being an eBay whore I always look at authenticated balls and see what is up for sale. Well one day earlier last year I was scrounging around and came across this one. It is a PSA authenticated and graded a Mint 9. Nothing special usually. This one though had the inscription of " The Bison " which I always wanted to acquire on a ball and in my mind eventually would get it done someday. As stated before inscriptions can be hard to acquire at the stadium and if you pay for it at a show it will cost an additional $25 and that's after paying for the autograph which he is now asking north of $65. So when this came up for bid I zeroed in on it as it had all my wants and as a plus it was graded as well. Lucky for me that it was up for bid when he was on the disabled list which I thought would benefit me on the end price. Not much action on the auction for most of the week until the last day when it was up to $40 and some change. I knew it wouldn't end that low. I didn't want to miss out on it but I didn't want to do an overpay either. I put my bid in at a click under $69 and hoped for the best. Low and behold the auction ended with a final total of only $60 and some change. That my friends is a great deal. $13 for the ball, $25 for the inscription and $10 for the grading is $48. I couldn't believe my luck. Again it helps if you buy when the demand is low. Basic economics is useful in collecting.

So with this great addition to my collection I am up to date on all signed baseballs by Matt Kemp. The only ones I would need are that will be upcoming. 2013 All-Star and of course the 2013 World Series baseball since we will be winning the trophy this year. And with that, bring on the new season and may it be enjoyable and may Vin Scully finally announce another Dodger World Series Win. Go Blue !!!